Year: 2023

WTC 2023

Event Name: ITA-AITES World Tunnel Congress 
Dates: May 12-18, 2023
Location: Athens, Greece
Venue: Megaron Athens International Conference Centre (MAICC)
Stand: 59

Come join us May 12-18 in Athens, Greece for the ITA-AITES World Tunnel Congress, the premiere event for tunneling and underground construction. More than 2,000 professionals are set to take part in the world’s top-attended tunneling conference, where hundreds of technical papers will be presented on the latest topics of interest. Stop by our stand 59 to converse with our expert international team, and find out the latest about our products, projects, and talks at the conference.

Technical Presentations:

Tuesday May 16
Track 2, Theme 4 Mechanized Tunneling
4:30 – 4:50 PM
Mitropoulos Hall
Record-Setting Large Diameter Mixed Ground Tunneling in Turkey: The Eşme-Salihli Railway Tunnel
Presented by Detlef Jordan, Sales Manager Europe

Wednesday May 17
Track 4, Theme 6 Tunneling in Challenging Conditions: Case Histories and Lessons Learned
12:40 – 1:00 PM
MC2 Hall

Lessons Learned During Excavation of the Incredibly Challenging Yin Han Ji Wei Water Diversion Tunnel
Presented by Lok Home, Robbins President


NASTT No-Dig

Event Name: NASTT No-Dig 2023
Dates: April 30-May 4, 2023
Location: Portland, Oregon
Booth: 322

Join experienced Robbins staff at the largest trenchless technology conference in the world, NASTT No-Dig in Portland, Oregon. Find out more about our line of Robbins Small Boring Units (SBUs) —game changers in the trenchless industry, saving you time and money on your next hard rock or mixed ground utility tunnel.


Notice of Retraction and Apology

To all Visitors of our Site:  I declare that our website contained information that was inaccurate, and in retrospect, was offensive and disrespectful to our longtime Customer and highly qualified construction Client, Obayashi Corporation of Japan, along with their Joint Venture (JV) Partners, Taisei Corporation and Kosei Corporation.  The referenced Project Site name is Hiroshima Expressway 5 Shield Tunnel Project and the Robbins Technical Article titled https://www.robbinstbm.com/grout-or-not/, which states as if the JV selected the wrong type of TBM for the Hiroshima Project.

We retract the statements made in our article such as, “Contractors who are used to tunneling in soft ground may not realize that when using a Slurry TBM in rock, inspections must be frequent due to increased cutter consumption.  We have seen this borne out on recent projects such as the Hiroshima Expressway Line 5 in Japan” because these statements were not based on facts and were incorrect. This statement reads as if the contractor did not review other optional TBM types, when in fact, the JV did indeed study all TBM types and methods to excavate this Express Tunnel.

There were additional incorrect statements made in the Article as follows:

  • The same paragraph of the Article continues,”…, and they (contractor) were expecting up to 13 bar water pressure. This high pressure water zone was only in a small section of the overall tunnel length, about 5 percent.
  • The Article further states, “The contractor in Hiroshima had grouted off from the surface a planned safe zone in which to inspect the cutterhead without requiring a hyperbaric intervention, but this strategy did not go according to plan. The abrasive rock damaged the cutters and cutterhead before they could reach the safe zone, resulting in unplanned delays“.
  • The same paragraph of the Article continues, “…grout off from the surface a planned safe zone…“.

The reason for choosing a Slurry type TBM was not solely based on the high water pressure but was also a result of the JV’s extensive review of all aspects of the tunnel requirements.

There was no plan to grout a “safe zone/safe haven” from the surface as other plans for cutter changes were in place and such plans have proven to be effective over numerous cutter change events.

Robbins commits to have more peer review and where a Client is involved, to have the Client review prior to presenting such data on our website.